


The Fall

by Hazelmist



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Autumn, Drabble, F/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Tumblr Prompt, fall - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24986698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hazelmist/pseuds/Hazelmist
Summary: He promises her summer and a tropical paradise; turquoise skies with a periwinkle blue moon, shooting stars all night long, beaches with lavender sands, palm trees with rustling violet fronds and clear sparkling waters that glow in the dark.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 10
Kudos: 22





	The Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Posted this drabble on Tumblr four years ago, I think? Beware of grammatically incorrect sentences and incorrect usage of commas and semi-colons. TW for hurricanes.

He promises her summer and a tropical paradise; turquoise skies with a periwinkle blue moon, shooting stars all night long, beaches with lavender sands, palm trees with rustling violet fronds and clear sparkling waters that glow in the dark. He tries to give her a warm quiet planet, a place to rest, a moment of peace. Safety, sanctuary, tranquility.

Instead they skip past centuries of endless summer and land in a world that's drastically changed.

A raging hurricane sweeps them miles off course; torrential downpours of warm water, high waves crashing on the beach, palm trees doubled over against the wind. The Doctor nearly gets them killed again saving a civilization from near extinction. They watch the end of the storm from the safety of the TARDIS and Rose cries when they can't save everyone from the floods, as primitive shacks collapse and water rises and rushes in the roads. They save an entire village, but it's just one of many. The Doctor and Rose can only do so much. Their home’s gone, all those memories washed away in a storm and the Doctor can't help them get that back. They'll rebuild, he tells Rose, but the words are empty and hollowed out. He's unsurprised when Rose asks him to take her home.

She stays the night and comes back with photographs stuffed in a borrowed paperback. One slips out, fluttering in her wake and sticking to the grating. She doesn't notice. He finds it while she's sleeping.

It's an old picture of Jackie and a little girl in her lap. It's Rose. He almost doesn't recognize her because she's got an eye patch, a plastic sword in her hand and a bandana over her hair. She's dressed as a pirate, but it's hard to tell because she has a huge caramel apple in her mouth and she's covered in nuts and the brown sticky goo. He smiles and stares at the photograph for a long time, wishing he could’ve been there. 

And for a moment he can see Rose, older and beaming, and a little space pirate of her own in her lap, giggling for a snap on a mobile phone held within his own slender fingers. 

His throat closes up and he shuts off that extra sense that allows him to see the gold tinted edges of a possible future. For every fantastical flicker of future happiness, there’s a hundred other devastating storms that separate them forever. 

But he keeps the photograph, because he can’t hold onto her future. 

She promises him forever.They watch the end of the world together and the beginning. It's only been six months but they've traveled through centuries; and they have countless days of winter and spring and summer and autumn. It feels like he's known her forever and he wants to keep her with him forever, but he knows he can't. 

So he promises her autumn; crisp cool air that does little to clear the unresolved sexual tension between them, caramel that gets stuck in her teeth, juice from fresh Macintosh apples she licks from her lips, pumpkins that she begs him to carve into ridiculous faces with a tongue-touched grin, hot steaming apple cider she spills on her sweater. 

Summer has faded, leaves of red and yellow falling from trees only to rot and be raked and thrown away. She pushes him into a pile of them and he breathes in the earthy scent of decay. He can hear the sound of the leaves drying out, crackling, breaking, dying beneath him. But today they're still vibrant shades of orange and tainted with gold. 

He pulls her into the pile with him and she laughs as he buries her in the leaves. She retaliates, rolling over on top of him, sinking him into the damp earth that's already scorched brown and hardened from a first frost. And suddenly he's seeing her, nothing but her and she's a brighter shade of gold, practically glowing and thriving in the height of autumn. She's beautiful and that dark cold winter he knows is coming is suddenly so very far away.

He removes her crown of maple leaves, brushing back her hair. His fingers twine in the strands, curve at the base of her neck, toy with her scarf, and she falls into his arms.

She tastes like apple cider and caramel.

She feels warm and he pretends she’s safe with him.

He promises her summer, but it's in autumn when he finally understands; he can’t hold back anymore, he’s already fallen.


End file.
